Dell announces 4K HDR10 monitor

At NAB Dell announced its new UP2718Q UltraSharp 27 4K monitor, which is the company's first HDR10 display. This 27" monitor, which has earned UHD Alliance Premium Certification, has a peak brightness of 1000 nits (a unit for luminance). It covers 100% of the sRGB, Adobe RGB and REC 709 color spaces, plus 97.7% of DCI-P3 and 76.9% of REC2020.

Dell says that each monitor is individually calibrated at the factory and, naturally, users can create their own color lookup tables using included software and an optical colorimeter.

To celebrate its first appearance at the National Association of Broadcasters conference as part of a combined company, Dell announces new solutions to improve its powerful ecosystem for media and entertainment professionals. The company proudly unveils the latest additions to its innovative, industry-leading monitor portfolio, including the company’s first HDR monitor that meets HDR10 standard and two new premium UltraSharp monitors with InfinityEdge displays. Joining these new monitors will be the new Dell Precision all-in-one workstation, virtual reality (VR) creation powerhouse towers and notebooks, and the innovative Dell Canvas smart workspace. The new monitors and workstation PCs are among the broad lineup of solutions designed for creative professionals in visual effects and filmmaking, post-production, broadcast and photography.

The Dell UltraSharp 27 4K HDR Monitor (UP2718Q), the company’s first HDR10 display with UHD Alliance Premium Certification, boasts an Ultra HD 4K display, with four times more detail than full HD and the depth of 1.07 billion colors. This monitor allows creative professionals to view and edit HDR10 content to create incredibly realistic images. With a peak brightness of 1,000 nits, the UP2718Q produces the deepest blacks and brightest whites and the REC2020 color coverage makes it an ideal choice for video editors working on color-critical post production. The UP2718Q also offers a broad, brilliant color spectrum with Dell PremierColor – 100 percent Adobe RGB, 100 percent sRGB, 100 percent REC 709, 97.7 percent DCI-P3 and 76.9 percent REC2020. For exceptional color reproduction, each monitor is individually factory-calibrated and users can customize the color parameters using the custom color mode, or make adjustments by storing the preferred color parameters onto the internal Look-Up Table using Dell UltraSharp Calibration software with an optional colorimeter.

“As the No. 1 monitor brand¹ in the world, we deliver the latest, most innovative display technology to our customers to meet and exceed their expectations, whether that’s at work or at home,” said Bert Park, senior vice president and general manager, Dell Software & Peripherals. “At NAB 2017, we’re proud to continue Dell’s tradition of world-class innovation – our first HDR monitor that meets HDR10 standard – by providing creators with the most strikingly accurate images and lifelike, unparalleled color performance.”

To provide a full spectrum of displays to meet the needs of customers in media and entertainment, finance, and oil and gas, Dell also is excited to announce the Dell UltraSharp 27 4K Monitor (U2718Q) and Dell UltraSharp 25 Monitor (U2518D), two new monitors from its premium UltraSharp line that feature Dell’s innovative InfinityEdge display. With Dell HDR², visuals are true-to-life with stunning color, terrific contrast and great detail. Both monitors allow industry professionals to push the limits of productivity with an edge-to-edge viewing experience and optimized eye comfort with a flicker-free screen featuring ComfortView. Announced to much acclaim earlier this year, the Dell UltraSharp 32 8K Monitor is now available, raising the visual bar even higher for creative professionals.

At NAB, Dell is celebrating the recent availability of the Dell Precision 5720 All-in-One workstation for digital content creators, like video editors, animators, designers and sound engineers. The 5720 features Dell’s innovative InfinityEdge display around a beautiful 27-inch 4K 100 percent Adobe color screen. The addition of Jack Joseph Puig Signature Series Audio powered by Waves MaxxAudio® Pro delivers studio-quality production, editing, and play back in one sleek and powerful workstation device. This sets an all new standard of built-in audio visual quality unlike any other all-in-one workstation in the market today.

The Precision 5720 delivers ISV certifications to optimize the hardware for major creative applications and the latest gen, responsive AMD Radeon™ Pro graphics allow it to keep pace with even the most demanding rendering and graphics-intensive tasks. The Xeon® or 7th Gen Intel® Core™ processors, Thunderbolt™ 3 technology and the exclusive Dell Precision Optimizer automatically tunes the workstation to run specific programs at the fastest speeds possible. The Precision 5720 All-in-One joins the Dell’s leading lineup of VR-ready solutions and is the first all-in-one workstation to boast VR performance.

Dell will be also be showcasing the Dell Canvas, an all-new smart workspace with touch, totem and pen capabilities that expands creative productivity for content developers and designers. Since its introduction earlier this year, leading partners and customers have been testing and delivering new application support for Canvas. Most recently, Adobe has developed totem functionality for intuitive timeline scrubbing in Premiere Pro for a Canvas environment. Dell is now expanding this early evaluation program to work with more partners and customers in preparation for global availability this summer.

“With the emergence of industry-shifting technology, we’re at an inflection point for building innovative products that empower creators to do what they do best – create!,” said Rahul Tikoo, vice president and general manager, Dell Precision. “At Dell, we’re working hard with our partners to provide the right solutions that will help revolutionize industries and we’re committed to delivering innovative solutions that will allow creators to do their best work yet.”

Pricing and Availability

Dell UltraSharp 32 8K Monitor (UP3218K) is available on Dell.com in the U.S. for $4,999.99.

Dell UltraSharp 27 4K HDR Monitor (UP2718Q) will be available May 23 on Dell.com in the U.S. for $1,999.99.

Dell UltraSharp 27 4K Monitor (U2718Q) will be available mid-July on Dell.com in the U.S. for $699.99.

Dell UltraSharp 25 Monitor (U2518D) will be available mid-July on Dell.com in the U.S. for $499.99.

Comments

I have double LCD screen, one is Dell 16:9, one is Samsung 1:1. The Samsung is 5 years older than Dell (you can tell from 1:1 ratio), but the color is much better. The color from Dell is just dull~ I had to pull my lightroom to the smaller screen for photo edit to get the accurate color. I know it has to do with whoever manufacture the screen panel itself, but Dell won't be the one I trust on high end monitor.

For UHD I'd much prefer a 32" version, so I hope this is coming. Be aware judging noise and sharpness on a 4K monitor with small (< 0.2mm) pixel pitch is problematic, Noise looks much better than it would on even say 2560 x 1440 monitor and everything looks sharper. It's best to judge noise and sharpness at 200%. As an example my 5DsR ISO 6400 shots on my 15" Dell XPS UHD laptop look like about ISO 1600 would on my 27" 2560 x 1440 monitor. The pixel pitch of that 27" monitor is 0.233mm, while a 32" UHD version has a pixel pitch of 0.18mm, so about 30% smaller. The 27" UHD monitor would be around 0.13-0.14mm.

Exactly right. I use my 32" NEC for editing as well as for the simple pleasure of viewing. I am a big fan of the fine detail inherent in landscapes. 32" allows me to enjoy that fine detail within a landscape b/c the detail is larger as is the overall image. Such detail on a 27" monitor is harder to see and enjoy b/c the detail is smaller (unless you do not mind leaning in closer than is comfortable). Of course, the eyesight of the viewer dictates most of this need.

Keep in mind that the pixels of the 4K 27" monitor is much smaller than the 4K 65" TV, so naturally it cost more to manufacture. But I do agree that $2k is to much for a monitor, give it few years and the price will drop dramatically.

It's not an outrageous price point if you're paying attention to what it is. The pro grade NEC and Eizo monitors, wide gamut and exceedingly precise, and standard in many studios, are in the $1000-3000 bracket, and they don't all have 4K, HDR10, and HDR10-capable peak brightness. This one does, so of course it can cost that much and more.

That doesn't mean we should all run out and buy it. If we wait a little while, it will drop down to the around $1000 range in short order like the 4K 8-bit sRGB monitors already have.

@Clint Dunn Whether either of those monitors is "overpriced" depends on how closely they meet the specs they claim along with having the proper uniformity etc. If the LG doesn't meet its specs and the Dell does, their prices are justified. If the Dell doesn't meet its specs but the LG does, then the LG is fairly priced and the Dell is not.

The new wave of HDR (10bit and soon 12bit) does only make sense with top of the line OLED TVs and very few local dimming LCD TVs (like QLED). But that's coming, almost everybody is now sourcing OLED panels from LG. LG OLED has a calibrated peak brightness of about 600 nits and perfect black on a pixel level.

This Dell monitor will NOT provide this viewing experience (because LCD). And it isn't meant to.

This monitor is meant for 4k content creators who need to grade HDR material.

All HDR content looks dark and flat on a non-HDR device (w/o compensating profile). Because 10 bit HDR maps white to 1023 rather than 255. But the average gray remains around 127. HDR is meant to boost the specular highlights. It isn't meant to turn your OLED TV into a floodlight. A lowkey still photo can be HDR but a highkey can't!

This requires a new still photo image format, one which contains both a tone curve for 8bit, and one for HDR devices. And a new versions of PS.

Ultra HD (3840x2160, no DCI 4K here) on 27" 16/9" screen leads to 163ppi and 0.155mm dot pitch.Still far from all high dpi screen we can get nowadays on smartphones, tablets and notebooks.300dpi big screens will come sooner or later.

24" because I have a small desk where 27" are too big. And bigger screens means higher pixel count for the same density.The 24" I described is already 16mp... If you don't want to need a gaming computer just to manage your photo base, it's a sweet spot.16/10 because I do many things on my pc (photos, film watching, web browsing and gaming). 16/9 is awfull for some of them (browsing especially).16/10 leave you more vertical workspace. again it's a sweet spot between different constraint.I love the 3:2 ratio from the Surface pro 3 I worked with. But I have no hope for a 24" 3:2 screen to be released while I'm still alive :)

Windows is even better because it lets you use not only 100% and 200% like mac os, but also the 125%, 150%, 175, and up to 350%. I use my monitor at 150%, so on mac os it could look or too big at 200% or too small at 100%. Anyway photoshop is the only software that I have that can only be 100% or 200%, and even so it will be good for this monitor.

In a non CRT monitor you need to set the native resolution, otherwise everything will look blurry! If the text is too small or too big from the settings you can change the multiplication of the interface: as an example if you have a 4k (3840x2160) and you set 200% it will behave like a full hd monitor as far as the text and interface size concerns, but it will still be sharp as a 4k!

“As the No. 1 monitor brand¹ in the world! We being so wonderful and un-biased, ... deliver the latest, most innovative display technology to our customers to meet and exceed their expectations, whether that’s at work or at home,” said Bert Park, senior vice president and general manager, Dell Software & Peripherals.

Bert Park's Mother said: "Little Bertie is a lovely boy and never lies"

Well, ... You just can't argue with a fact like that!" :) Go-N-Buy Dell.

This monitor is based on the panel developed by Nvidia/AUO with 384 local dimming zones. ASUS is also planning on releasing a 27inch HDR monitor with the same panel aimed at gamers. Another 31inch one for graphic artist is also planned.

Sergey - You seem to be implying that you take photos purely so that other people can look at them. Don't you also take photos for your OWN pleasure? If you do, then you really should get a 4K monitor. Assuming that your technique is up to scratch, you will see a HUGE improvement in your viewing experience!

Sergey - You are 100% right that technique, and more importantly an eye for composition, are far far more important than equipment. A poor photo will probably look even worse on a 4K monitor because it will show up technical inadequacies. A good photo however, will usually look a whole lot better.

P.S. Misread article, its only static metadata, Dell have missed the boat, they should be giving us HDR10+ for dynamic metadata, their tech is already going to be outdated although I imagine a firmware update may fix that, where's the edit button these days?

Oh and by the way, peak brightness is mentioned, it does not mention calibrated brightness, often manufacturers cheat on brightness claims, once the display is calibrated it might only hit a fraction of its brightness claims, especially if calibrated to DCI.

The incredibly realistic HDR and stuff depends on how the most expensive camera in the world can incredibly capture real world colors do not forget Canon renders colors warmer, Sony cooler and Fuji flatter.

I wonder the same. Even if we get our colors perfect on this perfect monitor, it might come out wrong when viewers' screens are not as accurate. Sort of like printing on a cheap printer, the color might come out wrong?

You all drop the ball here.4k HDR currently cannot be created for still images. There is no image format, no player (which would create the correct HDMI signals) and no image editor allowing to manage both SDR and HDR tone curves. Note that HDR whites are different from normal whites, far into what used to be clipped white. And only relatively low key images can be made HDR.

@falconeyes, I think the main point of discussion in this particular segment is the difference in color presentation across different screens, and whether that will be significant. Forget HDR10 for a sec, most of us doctor our still images' colors to taste (crush the blacks, yada yada) but what happens when someone else's monitor has a high gamma setting and the blacks suddenly aren't so black? I myself have had images tweaked to perfection for print, but when viewed onscreen elsewhere, it looked pretty average and boring.

No need for unnecessary alarmism. This is only a mystery to photographers who have never dealt with anything but one printer and the web.

Nothing has changed, you master to the ideal medium and you make sure it looks OK across a range of mediocre mediums. Just like you do now when making a master image for print that also looks good on your web site and on the non-calibrated screens of the public.

Music and video/film pros usually have more experience with this. Music pros know you master on your high-end, unaffordable studio monitors but you check that it sounds acceptable on phone earbuds and car stereos. Video/film pros have always known that a movie gets one color grade edit for a theater projector, a different grade for the home TV blu-ray, etc. They're not so locked into one ideal that's supposed to look perfect on everything (not possible).

It sounds like the mindset of us photographers have some catching up to do here in the approach to production, compared to other media.

Calibration is vital, it would be nice to be able to calibrate using Calman or Chromapure and a decent meter, get the monitor spot on, as I do with my plasma and projector, then hook up a camera to a display and be able to accurately calibrate its colours so it can match the standard, be that DCI or SRGB, once calibrated to the standard we would then know the colours are accurate from the camera and the displays would show it too, doesn't matter if many people cannot see the accurate image, it's like watching a film, the enthusiast will calibrate, the majority will just watch uncalibrated but it's good to know the images are calibrated to a standard.

Sadly, it's not bleeding edge tech, at least for the living room. Since this is relatively new in the PC space, Dell will be happy to charge a premium to milk early adopters, then lower the price to a more reasonable level in a year's time.

OLED displays aren't LCDs (Liquid Crystal Display). All LCDs need a backlight; the LCD screen modulates how much light gets through by changing its transmissivity. OLED displays don't need a backlight; every pixel is a set of LEDs that can be controlled individually.

There are several LED technologies, not all equal! There’s RGB LED (expensive, ideal), there is GB-R LED where the backlight has green and blue LEDs (good), there’s white LED (most common, not as good). The piece above isn’t clear nor well written at all (bullet: “100% Adobe color“). They wish to poorly express the color gamut is 100% of Adobe RGB and there are several ways to define this which is equally not provided unlike a manufacturer like NEC (we can go there if anyone cares).

Part 1 on percentage of gamut: The de facto standard when throwing around display gamut sizes is currently to quote the gamut area, calculated in CIE xy, relative to a reference gamut and expressed as a percentage. If the reference color gamut is unspecified, it is generally assumed to be NTSC (1953) - (which is pretty useless since it's not in use and makes things more confusing, especially for those doing video work).

Another confusing point about this figure is that it does not say what portion of the 2 gamuts overlap, so it would be possible to have a very large % gamut area, but only have a smaller portion of it actually covering the reference gamut.

Part 2: At NEC they state 2 sets of figures: "Percent Area" and "Percent Coverage".

The "Percent Area" is simply the area in CIE xy of the display gamut vs the reference gamut, with no consideration of how much of the gamuts actually overlap. This value can be > 100%.

The "Percent Coverage" is the overlapping area of the 2 gamuts expressed as a percent of the total area of the reference gamut. The maximum possible value for this is 100%. NEC generally quote both these values for AdobeRGB and sRGB, so it is easier to determine which color gamut best suits a particular application.

Using CIE xy is not ideal because it overemphasizes the greens and under emphasizes the blues. A much better way would be to use CIE u' v', but that would probably cause more confusion and make direct comparisons even more difficult.

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